Carolyn Keene - The Clue in the Crumbling Wall

day the sec-

am hiding

may make me

Then I shall be

of you. Love,

Walt

Nancy did not have the other half of the note with her, but she knew its contents by heart. The complete message would read:

Dear C,

Someday the sec-

cret which I am hiding

in a wall may make me

famous. Then I shall be

worthy of you. Love,

Walt

The young sleuth concluded that Walter Heath had not sold the formula on which he had been working. Instead, he had hidden the dyes somewhere in the old estate walls to keep them safe from men like Biggs.

"Do you have the other half of the note?" Nancy asked Senora Fernandez.

"No, I lost it years ago."

"What does the C stand for?"

"Oh-Walt used to call me Carita. It was a nickname he gave me when we first met."

"You are not my sister!" Mrs. Fenimore cried out again. She could hardly control her anger. "And this note proves nothing!"

Nancy took her arm. "Let's go now. And don't worry," she said as the three left.

Back on the street, Nancy said, "Daniel Hector did a good job. Senora Fernandez does resemble your sister, doesn't she?"

Mrs. Fenimore nodded. "So much so, that at first I wasn't sure myself."

"I noticed the woman had rather large feet," Nancy said. "She must wear at least a size nine or ten shoe."

"And Juliana had extremely small feet," Mrs. Fenimore remarked. "That should help prove Mrs. Fernandez is a phony."

"Yes. Please don't worry about it. Right now all I'm concerned about is finding your sister!"

Nancy dropped the Fenimores off at their house and drove home. On the way she passed Bess's house and noticed that George's car stood in front.

"I'll stop to tell them the latest news about the case," Nancy decided.

Bess invited both girls to stay to dinner. Nancy accepted after calling Hannah Gruen.

"Your father won't be back until late, anyway," the housekeeper said.

By the time Nancy arrived home, it was dark. As she pulled into the driveway, the young detective noticed that there were no lights on in the house.

"That's funny," she thought, stopping. "Whenever Hannah goes out, she leaves a lamp on."

Nancy hurried to the front door. With a surge of alarm she found it standing slightly ajar. Cautiously she pushed it open but saw only the dark hallway.

"Hannah!" she called out, reaching for the hall switch.

Before she could turn on the lights, a powerful arm seized her and a hand was clapped over her mouth. At the same time the assailant yanked her into the hall and slammed the door shut!

CHAPTER XVIII Tower Trouble

The man held Nancy in an iron grip, and though she struggled, she could not break away. Did she know him? He kept in back of her, so she could not see his face.

Frightening questions raced through her mind: Where was Hannah? Had the housekeeper been harmed!

"We're going to take you for a little ride now," her captor said in a whisper. "You're through meddling at Heath Castle!"

"Will you shut up!" a harsh voice put in. The second man tied a scarf over her eyes. "Let's get her out of here before her father comes home."

Suddenly Nancy had an idea of how to throw the men off guard. With a moan she slumped into her captor's arms and dropped her purse.

He exclaimed angrily, "She's fainted!"

"So what?" snapped the other. "We follow the orders. I'll get the car and bring it up the driveway. You carry her out when I signal."

Her body limp, but her senses sharply alert, Nancy waited for her chance to escape. When the other man left, her captor released his grasp. Instead of crumpling to the floor, Nancy pulled off the scarf and dashed up the stairs to her father's room.

The man gave a startled cry and ran after her. But Nancy locked the door before he reached it.

"I'm calling the police!" she shouted, and raced to the telephone.

For a few moments the intruder pounded on the door wildly, and banged himself against it, then suddenly stopped. Nancy had just finished dialing when she heard him run downstairs and slam the front door.

Quickly she reported the incident to headquarters, then went to look out the window. She saw the intruder round the end of the drive and flee into the darkness. Despite the thumping of her heart, she smiled grimly.

As Nancy hurried through the house she switched on the lights and called Hannah's name. She found the housekeeper gagged and tied to a chair in the kitchen.

"Are you all right?" Nancy asked anxiously as she released the woman.

"I'm not hurt," Hannah said hoarsely. "But the nerve of those two!" She added angrily, "I was expecting you or your father, and when the bell rang I thought one of you had forgotten your key. I didn't look out, just opened the door. Those men pushed right in, turned off the lights, and tied me up in my own kitchen!"

A few minutes later two officers arrived. Hannah described one intruder as tall and thin, the other as short, stocky, and powerfully built. Both were masked. Nancy suspected they were Cobb and Biggs.

"They must have been watching for me," she said, "because they apparently knew my father was out. Also, they were careful to park some distance away, so I wouldn't see a strange car in front of the house."

Before leaving, one of the policemen called headquarters and arranged for a plainclothesman to keep an eye on the Drew house that night in case the suspects made another attempt to kidnap Nancy.

Mr. Drew arrived home half an hour later. He listened, deeply concerned, as his daughter and the housekeeper told what had happened.

"You're a brave and clever girl," he said to Nancy, "but from now on you must be extra careful. Obviously these men are desperate to get you off this case."

"Someone is giving them orders," she said. "I have a hunch it's Daniel Hector."

That night Nancy lay awake long after the others in the house were asleep. "The kidnappers wanted to keep me from going to Heath Castle," she reasoned. "Surely not because of anything I've seen there already. It must be because of something else hidden in the place."

An amazing idea struck her. Nancy could hardly wait to call Bess and George. Early the next morning she phoned them.

"What time is it?" Bess asked sleepily. Finally she became awake enough to say yes to Nancy's request that the three girls go out to the Heath estate.

"Okay," Bess said, "but let's play it safe. I don't want to be scared to death again."

George was eager for the adventure. She put a flashlight and police whistle into her pants pocket. All three girls left notes at their homes since the families were not yet up. Nancy added to hers,

"Please phone Lieutenant Masters where I am. I want to follow up a hunch connected with the mystery out there."

When Nancy picked up the cousins in her car, they demanded a full explanation of the day's mission.

"It's my opinion that Daniel Hector or one of his men kidnapped the real Juliana," Nancy said. "He'll hold her until Senora Fernandez can establish her claim to the fortune. He'll take the lion's share of it and then disappear."

"But what does Heath Castle have to do with it?" Bess asked. "Do you think Juliana is imprisoned there?"

"Yes, I do. Mr. Hector found out recently that I was hot on the trail of the real Juliana and he had to get her out of the way. What better hiding place for his prisoner than the castle? Then, of course, he'd have to keep me away from there, so he tried to have me kidnapped."

"Your reasoning sounds logical," George admitted. "The crippled woman could have been brought to the place the night she left Jardin des Fleurs."

At the estate Nancy and her friends scaled the wall and dropped to the ground. As the three made their way toward the castle, they did not see nor hear the dogs.